marmoleum, linoleum, topographies

Delivered this week, a donation from Forbo. Marmoleum to make art with.

This is heavy stuff, each roll is 50 to 70 kgs. Ouch. The rolls are 2 metres wide and lengths vary from 6 to 9 metres. Larger works are possible.

Landscape has been a central theme in my work for a long time. This has taken on several forms of enquiry from creating physical spaces that an audience can physically participate in, to questioning the nature of materials, their origin, their authenticity and referencing to the ‘natural world’.

Any representation of landscape, landform, environment, etc. is going to be an artifice but often we don’t ‘see’ this. we seem to believe what we are looking at. (looking and seeing, a good skill)

What I have been doing with the Marmoleum is several fold. I like its own inherent ‘green’ credentials, but mostly I like its referencing ‘natural’ form, colour and textures. The material is flat, thin and strong. It is integrally coloured, such that the cut face is still the colour of the surface. Consequently in the construction of the contoured, topographical works the layers of colour are solid colour.

The work so far is raw and experimental. The large rolls now offer me the opportunity to increase the scale. The language of the work is from mapping and again, obviously, a representation and understanding of landscape. Whether the landscapes are ‘real’ or imagined nirvanas or just plays of colour and shapes will be your call.